Book Launch Three Begums: The Women Who Shaped My Life

Wednesday 7th May, Conway Hall, London. Ziauddin Sardar in conversation with Yasmin Alibhai-Brown

Three Begums:The Women Who Shaped My Life revolves around the lives of three ordinary women—Hamida, Merryl and Saliha— who lived extraordinary, interwoven lives of fabulous joy, fierce pain, and untold trauma. Like many who came before them, they loved and dreamed. Although born in different times and places, they were united through their dedication to bettering the lives of all around them. Each fell victim to disease and premature death, without fulfilling their desires; but, like all desires, these continue beyond their lifetimes.

Flowing seamlessly between the biographical and autobiographical, Ziauddin Sardar captures the complexities of everyday living, human relationships and raw emotion, weaving lives and ambitions together. The great story of human societies unfolds through the eyes of an individual, with each chapter struggling to fulfil the aspirations of the last. Sardar shows how his own life was shaped by these women, and how their collective life undulated, sea-like, to the rhythms of Urdu poetry.

This special event, organised by the Muslim Institute in conjunction with Hurst Publishers, will be a unique opportunity to hear Muslim polymath and public intellectual Ziauddin Sardar, in conversation with renowned and award-winning journalist and commentator Yasmin Alibhai-Brown. 

Copies of Three Begums will be available to purchase at a discount and a book signing will follow the event. 

We will also be launching the latest edition of the Muslim Institute's quarterly journal Critical Muslim, edited by Ziauddin Sardar. Critical Muslim 53: Water will also be on sale at a 40% discount of £12.  

This London event will take place in the beautiful library at Conway Hall, the historic meeting place just a few minutes walk from Holborn underground station. Teas and coffees will be served. The event is by invitation only. Places are limited and will be allocated on a first come, first served basis.

Speakers: 

Ziauddin Sardar is an award-winning, internationally renowned writer, futurist and cultural critic. His many books include Three Begums; Reading the Qur’an and A Person of Pakistani Origins (all published by Hurst); Mecca: The Sacred City; and Desperately Seeking Paradise: Journeys of a Sceptical Muslim. A former New Statesman columnist and UK equality and human rights commissioner, he is editor of the influential quarterly Critical Muslim and long time trustee of the Muslim Institute.

Yasmin Alibhai-Brown was born in Uganda in 1949. She has a First Class degree in English Literature from Makerere University in 1972, which is the same year that she was exiled from her birthplace. She also holds an MPhil in Literature from the University of Oxford. Alibhai-Brown is known as a journalist, broadcaster, author and columnist for The Independent and The Sunday Times. She has also written for The Guardian, The Observer, The Mail on Sunday, The Daily Mail, The New York Times, Time Magazine and other publications. Alibhai-Brown has won several awards including The Orwell Prize for Political Writing and the National Press Awards Columnist of the Year in 2017. She has twice been voted the 10th Most Influential Asian in Britain and has eight honorary degrees.